Anna Fenninger put the frustration of her recent finishes behind her with a determined second place in the Giant Slalom in Are, Sweden. Fenninger was third after the first run yet managed to close the gap on the leading two and take second place. With unexpected snow causing plans to change, this was a courageous performance by the HEAD World Cup Rebel.

Fenninger has won one Giant Slalom in her career, in Lienz in 2011, yet having over hauled Tina Maze, who had won all the GS races this season, on the second run, a second win was close. Viktoria Rebensburg had lead the field after the first run and despite losing half a second to Fenninger on the second run, held on to win the race.

The determination of Fenninger to make it on to the podium for the 11th time in her career, third time in Giant Slalom was evident from the moment that she drew bib number 1 for the last Giant Slalom before the Christmas break.

With the snow conditions being of the opposite extreme to what the racers had experienced in the previous race in Courchevel, Fenninger was able to use her early start to the best of her ability: third place after the first run and then a charging second run that saw her post the third fastest time of the run. This was the Anna Fenninger that gave the ski racing world excitement at the last World Championships to win the Super Combined.

With Anna Fenninger taking second place on the podium, Maria Hoefl-Riesch took sixth place after having been in fourth after the first run. This was Fenninger’s best result of the season so far.